22 August 2017

Another day is here!

I am still thinking about the eclipse... about solar energy... and how the need for more than one natural supply source is essential.  I have been focusing on solar, wind, and water options.  Somehow bringing all three into the same "translator" would make the energy availability work better.

During the pre-eclipse media, I checked on a story about its effects on a solar farm that had 6000 solar panels to serve 300 households a year.  I didn't get notes, but I remember those two numbers.  It meant that it takes about 20 solar panels per household to create a year of solar energy. 

I know it isn't that simple, because of how different we all live, and because of weather changes, problems like night-time, and natural interferences like a solar eclipse or even a solar flare, but the number is a guide for planning.  For some time, I have been trying to decide how many panels you need to create enough energy to accomplish a household's activities, as the only energy source and as part of a combination of sources. 

Tiny Houses seem to have about 6-10, depending on the needs of the resident.  The housing can range from less than 200 square feet to less than 1000 square feet, depending on whether they are mobile or built on a foundation.  Location is another important factor.

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With the threat of an EMP (Electromagnetic pulse) attack at some time in the future, my planning goes in the directions of back-ups...

My understanding of EMP bombs is that they explode in the air and destroy all the electric power within their range, including batteries... that means phones, clocks, radios, watches, computers, security back-ups, cars, busses, and trains... and planes, plus a lot of things we depend on every day.  It will change life as we know it... for a long time.  (I found a link about this topic at http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/05/12/electromagnetic-pulse-attack-on-hawaii-would-devastate-state.html -- a story about a US test bomb in 1962 !!!  I originally heard about it from a heritage.org post several years ago, then the topic went away. Now it seems to be returning to the media.)

I have been wondering how we can recover from a loss of grid electricity AND batteries!  The Hawaii story mentions that everything electric went away.  I think landline phones were also electricity based, but I am not sure... I would have been 9 years old in 1962.  As an adult, and looking at the way our lifestyles have become dependent on computer technology, I can't even begin to imagine the effects of this.  The solar eclipse made me think about dependent we are on the sun for the light to get through our days.  How will our energy connections survive in a crisis.

In looking for a way to back-up my life for whatever kind of crisis hits my area, combining solar panels with smaller wind generators and creating a water-based energy creator would help to solve these problems.  Methane energy via livestock refuse is also an option for ranching activities.  The only back-up I could think of for the EMP crisis was a gas generator, but I don't yet know if they use batteries or can be "hot-wired" into action if necessary.

Once you start down this path, you discover more related issues... like solar conversions using batteries as their storage path... does an EMP make batteries totally unusable, or will they recharge?

I have been working on these problems for awhile now.  I am sure I would be farther along if my budget would allow it.  It has become a project to do the best I can to prepare... food, water, shelter, back-ups... anything my current life will allow me to do.  Depending on GOD for the rest is where I stand in this life.

These are the issues I discovered in poverty, in trying to survive, in looking for ways to make life better, in trying to reach my goals, and in searching for the answers I needed... for myself, for my family, for other Christians, and for the rest of the world.  When everything goes away, the basics of living are all that matters.

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Well, maybe we can prepare for the future together... through Working Together.  That is why I created it.

Think about joining WT in December, when we will have our first annual social media membership drive.  I'm working on the details about costs and benefits now.  If I had more money, it would all be done already.  The plan is to take membership fees and create a way to help each other along the way.  If it works the way I hope it will, it will be a very great thing.

Until tomorrow, and another topic,

In Christ,
Deborah Martin

May GOD watch over us, those who love Him and do only good things for others, who care about suffering people and want to help strangers.  May we all notice the needs around us, share our wealth with those who have no one else, and help change the growing indifference and hate that seems to feed on our fears.  May our world become better because of us.  May our destinies become one, sharing this life and meeting in heaven one day.  May all those we love be with us.  Amen.